Winter Wonderland
by HopeAndFaithAndCharity
Summary: Bianca Potter is a Triwizard Champion. She invites Fred to the Ball, but he gets sick. Then Draco comes along... Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Secret Santa challenge. Merry Christmas, Olivia!


"What are you eating?" I ask Fred. He and George are standing beside a table in the Great Hall, eating a box of sweets that actually look pretty good… except for the acid green inside.

Now, I might not be a genius, but I'm pretty sure that acid green isn't a good food color. And that prooved true. A moment later Fred conjured up a box just in time to puke into it. George swiped the box a moment later.

"Knew that recipie was too close to the Puking Pastilles," he muttered.

"Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey," I say. "She'll help you."

"Good idea," George says. "Thanks, Bianca."

The two of them hurry from the Great Hall, leaving me alone. Don't get me wrong, I was used ot being alone. Kind of had to living with relatives like the Dursleys. I hadn't any friends at Privet Drive, and Hermione and Ron were my best friends here at Hogwarts. I did have plenty of enemies, though.

"Hey, Potter," a voice said. I looked up. Great. Ferret approaching. Speaking of enemies, Draco Malfoy made Dudley look a gentleman.

"What do you want, Ferret-Face?" I ask. Since Mad-Eye Moody turned him into a ferret for trying to curse me when my back was turned, I'd taken to calling him names related to ferrets. And when I actually looked close at him, I could see a bit of a resemblance to a ferret there. "Come to get turned into a ferret again?"

"Where's Weasley?" he asks. "Run off and leave you?"

"No," I say. "Well, kind of. They both got sick and went to the hospital wing."

"That was rude," he says.

"Why do you care?" I wonder. "You hate me."

"True," he admits. "But it's still rude. I can be a gentleman sometimes."

"Sure," I say sarcastically. Malfoy the Ferret, a gentleman? Yeah, and Voldemort's a pink poodle!

"Hey, I had to learn how to treat ladies when I was younger," he says. "And the first thing I learned is you don't leave your date unless it's for a good reason."

"And getting sick doesn't qualify as a good reason?" I demand. "I only came with him because Hermione already had a date and Ron's like my brother, so that would've been weird, and McGonagall told me I had to dance with a partner, and he was the first halfway decent person I came across after that."

"Logical," he says.

"Speaking of dates," I say. "Where's Pansy? Isn't she miserable without you?"

"She went off with Nott," he says, pointing across the Hall. I see Pansy in a gaudy orange dress being spun around senseless by Theodore Nott. I'd talked to him a couple of times, and he didn't seem too bad. At least, not absolutely horrid like some other Slytherins. "I don't care. I only came with her because she asked me first. I definitely wouldn't have done the asking."

"Oh, trouble in paradise," I joke. He chuckles. I am kind of surprised. I mean, I'm having a halfway decent conversation with Draco Malfoy of all people. He shakes his head, but I notice that the whole time he's doing that, he doesn't take his eyes off me.

"D'you- do you want to dance?" he asks. A bit of a blush forms on his pale cheeks.

"Why not?" I say. "One more thing to put on my record: dancing with a ferret."

He lightly punches me as we walk out onto the dance floor. He takes my hand, and then we are spinning. It seems to never end, the one dance, but when it does, my cheeks are flushed as red as my hair.

"That was so fun," I gasp, walking over to the punch to get a glass. I sip a cup and Draco sits next to me.

"It's almost midnight," Draco says. "Gonna turn in soon?"

"Yeah," I say. "Soon as I finish this."

Draco makes to get himself a cup, but he ends up spilling it all on my dress. The red spreads on the silver fabric.

"I'm so sorry," Draco says, whipping out his wand. "_Scourgify." _The red almost instantly disappears, leaving the dress clean and sparkly again.

"Thanks," I say. "I'm sure that was an accident."

He nods. "Want me to walk you to your common room?"

I look at him in surprise. "Why?"

"Well, since Weasley's in the hospital wing, and I'm with you, it makes sense that I be courteous and walk you to the Gryffindor common room."

I accept his offer of accompaniment, and we walk out of the hall and up the stairs to the Fat Lady.

"Thanks a lot," I say. "I was going to be bored as a goblin in there on my own, because Hermione and Ron had an argument earlier and left."

"No problem," he says. I give the Fat Lady the password (_Christmas baubles), _and walked in. I looked back at Draco to see he was still watching me…

Are we falling in love?


End file.
